New 1group Offices!

1group is headquartered in the beautiful mid-coast area of Maine, 30 minutes from the Portland International Jetport.  We prefer to meet clients at their place of business, but also offer state-of-the-art meeting and conference facilities on-site (conference rooms).

Contact by e-mail: sales@1groupinc.com

Contact by mail: 1 Group, PO Box One Thousand, Bath, ME  04530

Contact by fax: +1 207 837-6140

Contact by phone: Maine: +1 207 751-3215, Massachusetts: +1 617-314-6573

Contact by ground: Directions to the Border Trust Business Center: Google Maps

Contact by air: Portland International Jetport (PWM): portlandjetport

Most successful lean companies . . . Hypertherm, Inc.

I found this article recently about a question posed to speakers at a lean manufacturing conference, basically if any other manufacturers rival Toyota when it comes to applying and profiting from lean. Hypertherm, Inc. was the only name that came up!


High acclaim for the NH based company that I joined in 2001 and was the place where I first learned continuous improvement tools and methods.


Can Anyone Out-Lean Toyota? — Assembly Magazine

Focused Process Improvement

When evaluating the opportunity and need for process improvement it is important to target areas of competitive advantage. Process improvement consultants should help top management determine where - and where not - to focus efforts.  Some processes are best continually improved while others require a focused improvement effort and then work elsewhere.  See the link below for the HBR conversation:
Improve the focus of your process-improvement efforts

Corporate Productivity Problems

Interesting article about overall corporate (not individual worker) productivity.  How do you explain the growth of individual worker productivity resulting in a decrease in corporate return on assets (ROA)?  Too many meetings?  Longer work hours not resulting in productive work?  Both?

Corporate Productivity Problems